Training since I was 14 with Kenpo, then into boxing, kickboxing, most of 40 years, even with champions, and a year with the 15 year world champion kickboxer, I began a journey based on a Bruce Lee principle. Note: My first Sensei had 3 ribs broken by Mr Lee.
I'll get into the reasons I came to this place in martial arts as we get rolling here.
I always remembered this quote from Mr Lee, one that's been heard by most in martial arts, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
I read this as a kid, in his writings as most of us have. A few years ago I heard about a wrestler who was taught one move and practiced it on anyone and everyone for years, then took it into competition. He was unstoppable. Even though opposing coaches and opponents knew that was his only move, bam, they were down!
THIS was the meaning behind his quote above. THIS is when a kick becomes simply a kick again. If you study Mr Lee's training, you'd find him on many a day throwing some kick or punch 500 reps! Certain days he performed as many as 2,000 lead punches! Years of this meant once he fired a punch or kick it was 100% likely to land, accurate, hard.
So, understanding that the main purpose of massive reps is to create what Mr Lee stated, "a neurologically set pattern" where thought is not required to launch the technique, you'll find it fires at the exact time it's supposed to given the distance, opening, timing, etc. This also frees one up to express themselves rather than "try" to win, defend, or land something.
This is where I started, having some skills and being athletic, in my mind, I made the decision to go all the way with this concept, finally, and never quit till I finished! Out of respect to Mr Lee, failure/quitting was not an option.
Through his dedication to perfecting a strike or technique, Bruce Lee found after many thousands of reps, that once the technique was applied it was virtually unstoppable.
Besides giving you huge self confidence, it also created a foundational movement that one could build upon. I discovered so much more when I embarked on this journey. Here's what I did...
Realizing any punch or kick could be used to perfect, I thought about the most efficient combo ever, the simple 1-2 punch. This combo, lead left jab, straight right (I'm more right handed) although not some pretty flying spin kick, is probably the most effective, economical combo there is. Over many years I have thrown this combo probably over two thousand times. Trained by a pro boxer on how to throw it, I would at least be close to very decent in form.
A couple yrs ago at the age of 53, functioning normal (can run 10mi of mountains, etc), to which I'm always Thankful to God, I decided it to apply this Bruce Lee concept to my life. This was a conscious decision to absolutely do this, and I wasn't going to stop till completed!
Realizing most opponents are not going to be at quite the right distance to just throw this combo, I started with the lead leg (left in my case) slide into the left jab (bridge the gap) then the straight right. I did this in the air hundreds of times first, at a rate of 100 combo's/day or session... around 3 times/wk. I usually broke it into two mini sessions of 50ea. I marked it on the calendar so I could add it up.
This is how I started... it began with my first 100. It took around 7-8 months, so don't get in a hurry. Sure you can do 200-500/day, but here's why I stopped at 100... my goal wasn't just sheer quantity, but also quality! Each rep had to be correct or very close (to better set a neurological pattern). Each rep had to have maximum speed involving quick twitch muscle fiber. Each rep had to be explosive, accurate, balanced, hitting hard enough with either hand to be very damaging. By only doing 100 reps I was still crisp and strong at the end, I've done 200 or more in a day but felt that quality was less, so I stayed at 100.
I am open for discussion to help you on your journey. Feel free to email, comment, and share with martial artists, so far I don't know of anyone who has taken this Bruce Lee quote and completed it, please let me know if you do, thanks!
God Bless,
~Gary
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